According to a press release from the spokesman of the General Directorate of the National Guard (Gendarmerie), Houssem Eddine Jebabli.
More than 14,000 migrants, mostly from sub-Saharan Africa, who attempted to cross to Europe, were intercepted or rescued in the first three months of the year, the General Directorate of the Tunisian National Guard (Gendarmerie).
The number of migrants has thus quintupled compared to the same period in 2022.
In a statement published on social networks, the spokesperson for the General Directorate of the National Guard, Houssem Eddine Jebabli, indicated that during the period from January 1 to March 31, the coast guards “implemented failed 501 illegal crossings of maritime borders and rescued 14,406 people, including 13,138 from sub-Saharan Africa, the rest being Tunisians”.
These figures are five times higher than those recorded during the first three months of 2022, during which “2,532 rescues were carried out during 172 operations”, added Houssem Eddine Jebabli.
Most of the interceptions and rescue operations in 2023 took place in the governorates of Sfax (second largest city in the country, editor’s note) and Mahdia, located on the central-eastern coast of the country, with a total of 13,259 migrants concerned.
According to the same source, the National Guard arrested 63 people during these operations and seized 135 boats as well as 12 vehicles used to transport migrants.
Some areas of the Tunisian coast are less than 150 km from the Italian island of Lampedusa. Since the beginning of 2022, the country has experienced a remarkable increase in irregular migratory flows towards Europe, particularly towards the Italian coasts, in the light of the repercussions of the economic and political crises in the country and the armed conflicts which are ravaging several other African countries.
The southeast coasts of Tunisia are frequently the scene of rescue operations for migrants mainly from sub-Saharan Africa. Other migrants have died or gone missing after their boats sank.
According to the Italian Interior Ministry, more than 14,000 migrants have reached Italy since the start of the year, compared to just over 5,300 during the same period last year.
These new data come more than a month after the remarks deemed “racist” by the Tunisian President, Kaïs Saïed, towards sub-Saharan migrants. Saïed spoke of “uncontrolled masses and hordes of illegal migrants” from sub-Saharan Africa, with the aim of “transforming the demographic composition of Tunisia”.
This attitude had provoked an outcry in Tunisia in the ranks of civil society and large sections of the population, as well as reactions from certain African chancelleries established in Tunisia and from the African Union.
Some 21,000 Sub-Saharans are present in Tunisia (a country of twelve million inhabitants, editor’s note), most of them are in an irregular situation.
